Geaend ftnctiire
Like aU Uto*Aztecan languages^ Hopi is relative(y siinple. It biM iio
UMie or f;i|t«li md no (^lyativity; it (lo^abow sorne incofporatiQii,
tiK)ugfi, for j^^ as, ^aiMd bejpw, Nouos and vcibs are
modified by deeiensioiis and OMJUfations, though to a lesser extent
than in Latin or Germim^ The^ftawral sentence structure is subject-
obj(k:t-vdfb, 1)y t i^Ner 0^ ait jmsibie. i^ntfehcei often cidnuin a
particle thft tetU itibie aboiit the ^|ff^ U^ sdnUmce; an ttumplt
is the particle yaw, which indidtt^ that tlie sehtende is hearsay evi-
dence Ctbey say ...*)•
The dictionary forma of vafy.||^py;H^ vf09i$.^pm^ pf % Qpn-
sonant, a short or kmg vqwel, itMier ctmaomnt mi fiiiaiiy a shbit
vowel:
tsiro - bifd
qddtsa - white
kmiki - to bite
Here the ts touAts as ode conaqii»i(t, as expl^iA^kl-Mow. Modified
woids (words that have a dtfftfi^l^ the
sentence) and ^sntall words* ofllsi)i IK^tite fitm^^ siiiiiple ptltem, as
the above word t:i2]np ^aithe mem idge shows.
Many wonte have a special icM^ when thfey come at the end of a
sentence; these ait called 'pauiiiit ibrms'. An example isy^*i
from the above ya%r. pam put kttukl yaw ' 1 « Ae/jAe ^Imi/Aer
bitthty-say » /Ve he^d he/she biihimfher.
Hopi has no gender distinctions; that is, there is no difference
between *he\ •she' and *it\ not even tn the pronouns.
Although many modified forms can be derived from their base
form by simple rules, quite a number of them are irregular, and have
to be learned by heart, like the German irregular plurals or the English
-4-
irregular verbs. On top of that, some modified forms bear no relation
to the base form at all (as the past tense went from the English present
go). An example is:
vuuti - woman
momoyam ; women
Such forms are called 'suppletive\
Grune, Dick. 1991. Hopi, Survey of an Uto-Aztecan
Language. Wales: Cyhoeddwr Joseph Biddulph.